What's new?

SugarSync: After Microsoft updated FileSync to FileMesh I starting having serious problems in which "synced" files were corrupted. I have moved to SugarSync which has the advantage of also syncing your files to the cloud. Prices are reasonable. For smaller projects, I continue to prefer Dropbox. 22Aug2011

2010-08-13: I have found Dropbox to be a very handy utility for moving my own files as well as for sharing with collaborators.

2010-04-05: Andrew Hunt and David Thomas' The Pragmatic Programmer is well written with excellent advice for programmers. If you plan to go beyond do files (e.g., writing ado files), this book has great advice.

2010-02-18: To my horror, the 2010-02-17 update to Stata 11 for Windows (at least the 64 bit version) changed how the Stata interface works. When you alt-tab to Stata, control is in the output window instead of the command window. So, page up scrolls the output rather than scrolling through commands from the Review Windows. StataCorp plans to fix this inadvertent change. If you install the new release and don't like it, you can rename the new file (say StataMP-64.exe to StataMP-64_argh.exe) and then rename the backup file (say StataMP-64_old.exe to StataMP-64.exe). As of 2010-03-19 I have found no instances where the updated ado files are incompatible with the older exe.

In Stata 11, you can search notes using the notes with the search option.

2009-07-10: Updated comments from readers.

2009-05-18: Help files updated with appreciated suggestions from Michael Lichter.

2008-11-22: I created the package wf-help that contains help files that summarize key information from the book. I tried to select information that will be handy reminders (e.g., how long should variable labels be?) and short segments of code that you can copy and paste into your do-files. To install wf-help, run the commands findit workflow and select the wf-help package. The package includes details on creating your own help me file. Send me your suggestions for making the help files more useful.

2008-11-20:The Workflow of Data Analysis using Stata is shipping from StataCorp. To order a copy, go here.

2008-05-24: Manuscript is in press. 2008-01-07: Second draft completed. 2007-06-17: The first draft of the book completed. 2006-02-14: Work on the manuscript began.